Hi Frog

Yes still alive and kicking, just sitting here listening to the archers and trying to catch up here on the emails. All my wonderful plans went to manyana land almost the minute I made them. I am just so busy, working all the time, good on plan all day then 5 ish as I’m so tired and rattled launch into bread before dinner and as the week went on I got worse and worse.
Haha going public didn’t cut it. So having a test while the omnibus is on, then shopping for a few perfect BSD days 🤐🤐🤐 make soup, put a joint in the ski cooker, avoid bread and bickies and go carb cold turkey until the attraction wanes, and appetite turns of again.
I will weigh tomorrow, enough of my 😩😩😩 how are you doing.😊

Josie
Brill losses go girl 💃💃💃

Ooh snap Avila

It’s really getting on my wick now, as I am motivated in the morning then whoosh it flies away by 4 pm 😤😤😤

Hi Verano
someone here suggested putting it in the oven when I wrote that the Waitrose prepared one was a bit watery – it really bought out the flavours.
I steamed it for ages, mashed it with a potato masher, added butter, garlic and seasoning (including nutmeg, that Sunshine Girl suggested) then put it in an ovenproof dish – I think it may have been in there a bit long , half an hourish while the cod and lentils were baking, 20 minutes would have been fine. The big breakthrough was cooking the cauliflower long enough n the first place to be able to mash it.

Hi Jan
Sorry your week went a bit pearshaped towards the end – think of it an an unintentional 5:2 2:5 or whatever!

My week fell apart a bit on Friday too – I didn’t get time for lunch, and the walk home was very cold and wet. Stopped at the fish and chip shop on the way home. I did stop the man from shoveling in more after half a portion, bit not good. But having eaten that (and no, I didn’t stop to cook the fish in the fridge, or even add some of the cold chicken), I went across the road and got biscuits. So there are worse things than bread before supper!

Yesterday I was out shopping, mostly supermarket – should have stopped for lunch, but didn’t, so had a croissant, and then a seeded bread roll. (well – the day before had been a bit rubbish….)

Today will be a good eating day – started with a breakfast of poached haddock and egg, with some asparagus and a small portion of lentils. Froglet got very excited at haddock.
I am still just over a kilo down on the start of the week (Monday 1st), and I wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t had the good days at the beginning, and I will stay on plan today!

Come on girlies you can do it..no more bread or biccies or i will be round with a wet lettuce to slap you round the chops! Just think how good you feel when the scales give you good news or you step into an outfit thats become roomier XX!
FROG you mentioned somewhere the pussy cat weights… Ziggy was getting podgy til he got his catflap and started going out more and longer..maybe we all need to install a catflap and start going out on midnight prowls! 😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼
Was Froglet ok last night? Ziggy wasnt a bit impressed by all the bangs and whistles and he will hate me telling you this but he had to be escorted outdoors to have a much needed weewee and then quickly taken back indoors! He doesnt want any girl cats to know about this,nor his pal Manuel who lives next door! X

Hi Yowzer
The Ziggy calculation was based on a weight that you said he was in June or July – it was a reduced weight after the installation of a cat flap and him being more active.
Sorry that Ziggy was upset – I deliberately stayed in last night so that Froglet wasn’t on her own, She wasn’t very happy – ears up, lots of leaping about, but consoled by food, I got in at about six, and gave her her regular supper, then some ham I’d bought her as a treat (aldi and lidl sell giant boxes of off cuts really cheaply that she adores, and aside from being odd shapes, is perfectly fine – I occasionally have some of it too). Then she had some of my cod, so a tummy like a little butterball, but she sat curled up close and wasn’t too bothered by the noise.
No catflap, just a poo tray, so no worries about going outside.

The funny thing had been Saturday morning – there are external decorations going on, so the building is wreathed in scaffolding. Now that she has got used to it, she quite enjoys watching people walk past on the scaffolding (the first layer is two thirds of the way up the window), and sits there with her head going up and down following the brush strokes when they are painting.
They were working on Saturday morning, but on another side of the building. I couldn’t hear them, but she must have been able to, or feel the vibrations on the scaffolding – she got so excited looking for people, but no one came. Today no one here, so she isn’t bothered at all – so she definitely knew that there were people about yesterday, just not coming to entertain her.

Thanks Frog will try your method sounds lovely.

Glad you’re ok Jan. Think a few of us are off the boil at the moment … tomorrow is another day!

Hi frog

Well done for what you achieved I haven’t even gone near the scales 😱😱😱 I will get my BSD head on , when I wake up tomorrow, minds not in a Bril place at the mo, but will have rested by tomorrow. Did froglet get some haddock, my dog Lady Lucy is the same, she thinks, it’s hers, and I can have a little bit. Perhaps she’s my BSD guru. Hehe

Gained my usual kg so back to 87kg. Add to the winter depressive state and I have just binged on crisps and cheesecake – not exactly the way to undo the damage… When I started it was the summer (August) and I had the vision and omph to do it, fish and spinach based salads ruled. Well done for all tackling this for the first time in the winter chills when comfort eating seems genetically programmed to get us through barren winters. At least I am cycling around the same level of weight. And I did manage my 5th Parkrun yesterday.

Oh Yowser,
You are such a wonderful role model, So delighted for you and all your lost fat pixie pounds. 😇😄😇😄😇

Hi Greenjanet
My Labradors think that my smoked mackerel is theirs and the salmon. They look so appealing as they almost will you to drop some on the floor for them. They love fage yoghurt even more than I do.

Perhaps they are my BSD secret weapon. What they don’t realise is that if they get some of my dinner I have to give them a smaller serving of their own food.

Avila – I am impressed with your park runs.

Now I have found fage yoghurt I cannot be without it so we had to make an extra trip to Tesco this afternoon to buy some.

Well done for getting out there for the park run Avila – so easy to cry off when its cold.
As much as I enjoy it, I’m thinking that I may be a fair-weather kayaker!

Yes, Froglet shard the haddock, no options on that.
She sat next to the plate and kept extending her paw; we had a long discussion and I explained that it was mine, and I would save her some, but it’s very rude to try and steal, and if she didn’t behave, she wouldn’t get any. It worked (probably the tone of voice rather than reasoned explanation), but she sat there patiently until I’d finished, then demolished her piece of haddock.
Sometimes I cut a portion of whatever off for her first – but she usually gobbles it down, then is back with me ready for more before I sit down to eat.
I’ve made her sound a complete glutton, but she’s a very petite cat, and doesn’t seem to vary much in weight – always 4.0 or 4.1.

I’m a bit concerned that the cauliflower in cauliflower mash is so overcooked, and might be destroying any nutritional benefits

this isn’t a site that I often use, but I just googled nutrition benefits of cauliflower & this came up first – WOW!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/22/cauliflower-health-benefits.aspx

Yep I’m defo addicted to fage, I get panicky, if someone else wants some, as our local coop very often runs out 😅😅😅

I’ve made cauliflower mash by steaming florets for 6 minutes in the microwave then adding cream and using a stick blender. It was lovely and smooth, so I don’t think it needs to be overcooked to mash.

Hi Frog
Froglet sounds like a lovely cat. What a good girl to wait so patiently for her piece of haddock.

The info on cauliflower looks very interesting. I must confess that we haven’t tried cauliflower mash yet. I think I will try some frozen cauliflower mash – am at Tesco on Friday so I will see if they do Frozen. If not I go past Waitrose the following Thursday so I will try there.

Greenjanet – because both daughters and their families are visiting next weekend I bought 3 x 500g tubs. I am going to use it for deserts with cherries, blueberries, rasberries and strawberries. I was going to whip some cream but husband says the fage is so nice you don’t need cream. They will probably have it for breakfast also. Maybe I did overdo it with 3 tubs but as husband really likes it also I don’t think it will last that long. Tesco had lots of 0% fage but only a small section of full fat.

Got absolutely soaked on my walk tonight but I have done just over 10K steps and 61 minutes of fast walking. The rest was slow stuff because one of the dogs was trying to do a forensic search of our route.

I’ll try that method too!!!! If you overcook it if definitely turns to mush!

Krysia if you have an Aldi near you their Greek Yogurt is wonderful and quite a lot cheaper, also Marks and Spencer’s do one as well

i have made cottage pie and used mashed white beans on the top it was really nice almost nutty in taste

Josie53
An Aldi has just opened near us this last week. We haven’t gone in there yet – we were waiting until next week because we thought it might be a little quieter as a lot of people visited it during the first week..

Hi Krysia
Froglet is adorable – but that wasn’t my first thought when I was trying to eat breakfast and a little brown paw kept stretching out towards my plate! Or when I was rushing to get out earlier and spotted that she liked her ham treat so much that she’d gobbled it and thrown up.
Well done on getting out for a walk- cold and miserable here, so the day whiled away without my being very active, decided to go to the cinema – about an hours walk there and back, but by the time I’d located a PAIR of gloves, then cleared up after Froglet, I’d have missed he beginning of the film, so I drove (and forgot to pick up the gloves)

The white beans in mash sound nice – I was thinking earlier that Jerusalem artichokes must be coming into season soon. Carby, but a few mixed in with cauliflower might give it a nice flavour.

FROG Little froglet sounds such a sweetie! Zig weighs a ton when i lift him up! He wont stay in my arms,DD is the only person who he allows to carry him!
AVILA you are soooo good doing yr park runs!
KRYSIA The FF total yog is just fab,isnt it..its a lifesaver! I too made a mercy dash to tesco just to get some this avvo! Have to knwo theres some in the fridge!
I’ m like JAN,i panic if i cant find any! Aldi and Marks are really lovely like JOSIE mentioned but more MR Whippy consistency i think,not quite as clotted cream-y as FAge Total.
Cant write more..PHiladelphia starting on film4…
Night all..xx and good luck with the new week ahead..bringing its own new probs with the colder weather and us needing our hearty comfort foods! X

Krysia they do ricotta and marscapone at about 79p which is really good and excellent cheeses

That reminded me that I got some mascarpone yesterday, and forgot to put a dollop in the soup that I’ve just eaten. Lidl’s do it at a similar price, bought some nice red wine too….
I actually have three bottles of wine looking at me from the table! One shop that I went to yesterday had Christmas jumpers for wine bottles, with hats – I thought they would be fun to add to any Christmas bottles of wine that I give – but in the meantime, i’ve tested them out. They’re a bit like this:
http://www.theodmgroup.com/2012/10/19/promotional-idea-mini-christmas-jumpers/

have made the roasted broccoli and cheese soup for lunch this week

enjoy Josie
we made it at diabetic cookery class, and I really loved it (and bought a huge container of leftover soup home too
I have got quite a lot of broccoli in the fridge, so could make some tomorrow.

Really pleased that scales went down another 3/4lb so with yesterday’s 1lb loss am now at 9stone 10lbs the lowest I have been since late 1960s. It is so strange how you can see your clothes getting looser but the scales won’t budge. Although it was only a 2 week plateau it did feel it went on forever.

Josie am really looking forward to shopping in Aldi – I love mascarpone and ricotta cheese and that is a really good price. Hopefully the novelty has worn off and it is less busy this week.

Frog I hadn’t thought of adding a dollop of mascarpone to soup – I will try it next time.

Yowzer -yes I do love the clotted creamy taste and texture of fage. Husband who dislikes all yogurts absolutely loves the fage.

that’s brilliant Krysia, well done
My weight was up a bit today, but I’d scuppered it a bit by waking up at about 5am and drinking a pot of tea

How did you get on Jan?
When I reflected back, it wasn’t just Friday and Saturday that went awry – Thursday was vegetarian cookery class, and I had chocolate and beetroot cake and beetroot risotto,
Diabetic cookery class was quite good again today – fish en papillote – I have made it before, but this was with different seasoning.

Hi Frog,

I have that day drift as well.

So I am cycling around my 86-88 kgs still – self inflicted but stuck. If I saw loss I would be encouraged to stick at it, when I don’t shift I get the grumps and self sabotage, making the 85kg further away… Sigh.

On the other hand I am not gaining despite my ‘sins’ against the plan, and lots of people comment about the losses so far, even if not lost anything for weeks – because I am wearing things I didn’t dare to before that so the loss shows more. So that is encouraging, when I don’t feel a fraud as not currently sticking to plan. Brains and thinking are complicated stuff!

Fish in paper – yum. Before this plan fish was tinned tuna or smoked salmon on posh days. Now I have fish in the freezer that still have their heads, and baking in paper is really good. And comes of the bones easier than fried, I have to say I mastered mindful eating when I had been responsible for the de-boning!!

Hi Avila
whew – beating you 🙂 – my cycle is around 84-85kg!
But we have both lost lots Avila – its just that most recently it’s been the same kilo, over and over again!

I have always liked fish – I didn’t eat meat for about 20 years, but liked fish too much to give that up
– fish just aren’t as cute as piggy wigs with curly tails – then I got very aneamic, and meat was back on the menu

I haven’t got so adventurous as to have anything with bones on my plate (or to buy anything with a head still on) – but the cookery courses have got me experimenting lots more with spices & different ways of cooking.
This morning I didn’t actually check what fish it was (too small for cod), but white fish fillet, on a bed of pepper, cherry tomato and spring onion, with a marinade/dressing of soy sauce, rice wine, ginger and fresh chili.

I bought a bag of mixed beans and veg in Waitrose this evening – despite the beans, its not too high in carb, and I’m going to experiment with making it into soup tomorrow.

84-POINT-ZERO
Lowest in many, many years!
1.8 kilos down from 31 October start of this challenge, despite the end-of-last-week blip
18 kilos down from starting BSD, despite the last couple of months of recycling the same kilo blip
28 kilos down from heaviest weight ever

WILL NOT go above 84 again – Ever!!

woohoo well done

thanks Josie

😀😀😀 delighted for you frog

Thanks Jan – are you back on track?
have a good day

In a nutshell no don’t know what’s wrong with me, just can’t seem to keep the discipline going, but I will get there eventually but well done you😀 Keep it going

You are not alone Jan 🙁

Yeah Frog – go at’em!!

For me –
1st Aug 99kg
26 Sept 89kg (not tracked details when it was going well to get here)
3 Oct 88kg
17 Oct 86.9kg
20 Oct 86.5 kg
22 Oct 85.7kg
27 Oct 87kg (after binge w/e)
1 Nov 85.5kg (for 5 mins)
8 Nov 87kg (depressive binge was 88kg)

So I feel frustrated in self sabotage time wasting…
Though typing it up it doesn’t look as bad as it feels – maybe I need to focus on that.

Ooh Avila

I’m just the same beautifully maintaining never been able to do that, but I have allowed bread to slip back in, so not loosing, what’s up with us, has something broken 😅😅😅😅😅😅 all the others are managing to keep self control, and I just launch into another crusty loaf 🐷🐷🐷 I’ve done all the usual, planning shopping etc etc, but I’m just feeling sorry for myself I think, so keep doing sabotage to myself. Glad I’m not on my own in my gloom, but wish for your success.💃💃💃

I’ve been exploring some of the mindfulness stuff. I just noted what they said about habits …. how they kind of form a groove in our brain … and that groove is so so easy to slip back into.

The longer we can stay on our BSD plan … the longer our attention to BSD starts to wear a new groove ….. but the old habits still have the bigger deeper groove … easy to slip into and harder to get out of.

We have to use all the strategies we can to carve out a new groove with our new BSD habits.

Trying to get out of the old groove myself … trying to remember all the reasons and my best reason for wanting to carve a new groove.

What we pay attention to grows stronger.

Well done FROG! X lowest ever and YES you will never ever go above…well say 85 to give you some leeway…if you go up to 85,its gonna be soooo easy to drop one kg again isnt it? Instead of multi kilos?
JAN and AVILA..sometimes we are not just in the right mood or the right place for severe calorie and carb restriction
Let yourselves off the hook and dont beat yrselves up. I ve done this time and again ( mindless sabotaging eating) and there are a myriad of reasons we do it..some are self induced,other reasons are beyond our conscious control.

Just try to have some damage limitation so you avoid going backwards weightwise,coz that will feeel sooo demoralising.we’ll keep yr places warm on the back of the bus til youre ready again and when time is right,you ‘ll see good results once more…just dont slide too far backwards or we’ll have to come round and slap you with a wet lettuce! X

Hmm

Thank you for the kind reminder Shalimar, I need to get in the groove, it’s a song 🎤 Hmm humming that now. At least I’m not eating, lol 😅

Thank you Yowser very wise words. 😊😊😊

Me and you both greenjanet 🙂 HUGS ….

Need to carve a new groove myself. Not quite there yet ….. but trying to remind myself that on my next trip i want to be able to enjoy walking and seeing the sites …. instead of getting so easily tired … feet too sore to walk. On pain pills and/or being cranky. All that money and no JOY!! …

thanks …. expressing that is a help.

Hi
It will click again at some point Jan (probably when you ditch the bread 🙂 )
Yowzer – nope, not going back above 84, now I’ve got to 84ZERO – I’ve been recycling the same kilo or two for far too long!
IT WILL be 83 something tomorrow (even if I don’t eat or drink till midday)
Good Luck with the mindfulness Shalimar

Hi Jan

I think most of can empathise with you … how many of us have walked or are walking in those shoes!!

Why are you following this way of life??? Is it to lose weight? Is it to reverse diabetes? Is it to control diabetes? Is it fix pre-diabetes? Is it to improve your general health? Is it for another reason?

Maybe if you can refocus on why you started this journey it may help you to remember your ‘old’ life and give you renewed enthusiasm to move forward to a better place.

I only have one word for you to help you get back on track SOUP!!!!! Have a bowl before you eat anything else. Have one for lunch …. may stop you eating anything else. Have one mid afternoon as a snack. Have one before dinner may curb your hunger!!! So easy to make a huge pot and freeze or keep in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

Just don’t fret over it. When the time is right you will find your mojo but soup and water may just help with damage limitation in the meantime!!

Good luck!!

Or Eggs!
I really wanted something to eat the other day – think boredom rather than hungry, so had an egg – v filling, took a bit of faff to make it, but not too long, and there is a limit to how many eggs you’d want to eat!
that will be my no 1 snack going forward!

Avila, 12 kg down in just over three months is no mean weight loss. It’s more than I will manage. And if you did it once, you can probably do it again! Don’t lose heart.

The question about why we are doing this – having reached the point of being off BP meds (was at risk weight but not diabetic) I think part of my motivation has clicked as goal achieved.

I think the winter is a factor for me too – nature triggers the comfort eating to buffer against cold, and those with depression can feel that stronger and food can be coping mechanism, as can the booze (hands up – and yes I know it is calorie pricey).

I attacked the start with buzz and commitment but that only lasts so long ( I am on the bipolar spectrum so can come at things with huge obsession, but when it switches to the lows…) It also means i see the bad as worse than is….

I would love to get to the healthy BMI (79kg is my border crossing weight) but the motivation is not as strong as it was with the getting off BP meds stage.

We are complicated people eh?

Thank you guys for your support, you’re an amazing bunch 🙋🙋🙋

Hi Avila

Yes, you’ve reached your target in as much as you’ve come of BP medicines so brilliant! Well done!!! That’s great!

No wonder you’re motivation is low you’re not vastly overweight, unless you are only 4’6″!!!! It must be very hard to keep going so why not just set yourself a goal of not putting on more than 1 or 2kg over the winter. Maybe you need to do 5:2 or similar. When I was normal weight, many moons ago, I watched what I ate during the week and relaxed a little at the weekends and stayed at a steady weight.

Just don’t beat yourself up that’s so destructive and you’ll end up undoing all your good work.

Be kind to yourself, keep posting, get yourself through the winter and then restart if you want to!

Alvia, I would think staying off BP meds would be a big incentive. I have not lost masses of weight but have almost reached a goal of getting my BG to 5.0 – I will know if I have achieved that in a few weeks. I went at it hell for leather for the first 8 weeks and also had no distractions, and I can be obsessive and reduced my HBA1c from 8.2 to 6.7 in just 6 weeks, since then it has been a much slower push with not quite that same motivation. One thing I do know is that even if I don’t lose any more weight (but I am still over about a stone and a half overweight) as long as I can keep my BG down I will be happy and, unfortunately, that means sticking with it to a greater or lesser degree. I too like a tipple and if this is going to be the rest of my life I still want to be able to factor in some treats now and then. Relax a bit more you have done great, we are only human and can only try our best.

As for the winter blues, buy yourself a nice colourful winter coat, get wrapped up warm and spend some time outside. Just a short walk after lunch should brighten your mood and when the munchies come, remember all the lovely things we can have like cheese and nuts and berries, and big bowls of steaming hot soup.

Take care of yourself and you will be fine.